People strike against Kurdish forces in northern Syria for trying to force conscription

Aleppo, Syria – Residents of Manbij are staging a general strike to protest a decision to impose mandatory draft on young residents of the city.

Manbij, in northern Aleppo countryside, has been controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) since August 2016 when they captured the city from ISIS.

As seen in the photos, the entire town has shut down to protest against the forces conscription of the towns men to the SDF who are facing a manpower shortage after a long drawn out battle to capture Raqqa killed or injured thousands.

Paul Antonopoulos is a Research Fellow at the Center for Syncretic Studies. He has an MA in International Relations and is interested in Great Power Rivalry as well as the International Relations and Political Economy of the Middle East and Latin America.